TOW they forget Chandler's birthday
by Fafsernir
Summary: Chandler didn't really care about his birthday, but he hadn't expected everyone to forget about it.
1. Chapter 1

_So normal people party or hang out on their birthdays, but I'm not a normal person so instead I wrote a Friends one shot! The general idea has been in my head for a little while so I've decided to write something about it. It's set somewhere between season 1 and 4 as Chandler and Monica are not together, and it's inspired by that time the friends decided to throw a surprise party for Rachel's birthday weeks before it, and she said that even Chandler's birthday was before hers. As they all looked surprised (they clearly didn't remember) and Chandler just uncomfortable, I thought that they could very well have forgotten about it another year._

 _It's not against the five other friends, but I find that sometimes Chandler is not really included/noticed (like when Monica said they were all together and they told her that Chandler wasn't here so nope, or the episode with Chandler's glasses and everyone thinking he used to have a pair and Ross and Monica thinking he was a lefty, etc.) so why not write about it! I hope you'll like :)_

* * *

The phone was ringing too loud in the living-room. Chandler had thought about ignoring it, but just so it would stop, he stood to pick it up. As he walked out of his bedroom, the apartment's door flew open and Monica entered, smiling when she saw him.

"Hey Chandler! Are you okay?" she asked, taking in his state. He looked exhausted, as if he hadn't slept the night before or had had the worst day ever, and he was already in his boxers and a too-large sweater. He shrugged to answer, sitting on one of the stools in front of the kitchen counter. "Aren't you going to answer that?" she smiled, pointing at the phone, hoping to lighten his mood.

Before he could answer her, the phone beeped, Joey and Chandler's answering machine put the recorded message and there was a sigh right away.

"Hello son." Chandler froze, his eyes and mouth wide-opened, wondering how to react. He didn't want Monica to hear the message his father was about to leave, but he certainly didn't want to pick up the phone. He really didn't want Monica to know why his father called but his refusal to speak to his father won and he simply sighed, waiting for Monica to react at the words he knew were coming. "I won't be long this time, but I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday. I hope you're fine and that we'll talk someday soon. I love you."

Indeed, the message was short, for once. His father had left more than one message too long for the capacity of the phone. He was usually the one to delete them, and he wasn't sure Joey had really realized that his father tried to call him often. His messages were more and more spaced, but he still called for the important dates – both their birthdays, Christmas, and a couple more, but never Thanksgiving.

The thing was, it _was_ Chandler Bing's birthday that day, but nobody had even acknowledged it, let alone wish it to him, and he had prayed that nobody would notice. Now Monica was staring at him with a mix of pity and confusion, and he hated it. He felt bad enough about it himself – that his best friends wouldn't even care about his birthday – and he certainly didn't want the whole group to feel bad about it as well. He really, _really_ , didn't want to deal with pity and belated wishes now.

Although he had known nothing would happen when nobody had said anything, he had still hoped they would do something for him in the evening, a little surprise party maybe. He didn't want much, it wasn't his favorite date either and he didn't really care, but the idea of his friends not caring about it hurt.

Of course, they were a group of six friends always hanging out together, all living close together, and they all had flaws and behaviors that were more or less accepted by the group. Well, it was usually accepted, but could be criticized. Phoebe always would be the weird one, sometimes annoying them. Joey would always be rather dumb or slow to understand, and they would always tease him about it. Monica had her obsessive need to clean things, and they also sometimes mocked her about it. Chandler was classified as bad with women, and probably joking too much sometimes, which was more than okay with him.

He was less okay with the fact that they seem to forget a lot of things about him, or failed to notice them. Nobody could even remember his job. Maybe that one was his own fault, he had told them it was only a temporary job, and he probably didn't say the name that much. But his birthday... The group always did something for birthdays, whether it was a party with friends, sometimes colleagues, or just the six of them, there always was something. Not for Chandler, apparently.

But he had been okay with it by the end of the day. So what, it was only one day? He really didn't like his birthday much – even less now – and he didn't want anyone to wish it. Except some of his colleagues who had offered him a new stapler – even his colleagues remembered! – but he had guessed that checking their calendars daily must have helped them remember. Even if he knew that Rachel always did that, he had tried to ignore that particular thought, the fact that she hadn't even really written down his birthday, apparently, hurting a bit more.

And now Monica knew, and the whole group will know, and he had been so close to finishing the day without anyone noticing.

He could easily read Monica's eyes as they stared at each other. She was trying to come up with something to say. Maybe that they had planned a party the day after, making him believe they had forgotten. Maybe that they had joked around because he joked with them all the time. There were different ways to lie about it.

But Chandler knew it would be a lie, because she clearly had no idea about his birthday, and he knew that none of his best friends had a damn clue of what day it was – or what was happening on that day.

When she opened her mouth, he realized that he wasn't up to any bad lie, he didn't even want to play along and pretend he believed her. And he didn't want to see her, with guilt eating her face as she chewed on her lower lip.

He lifted his hand to stop her, pursing his lips and trying not to sound angry. He wasn't, actually. Maybe exhausted. Disappointed, at best. "It's okay," he said, smiling reassuringly.

"We..." she started, not convinced by her lie before it was even out.

"Mon," he simply sighed. He shook his head, and turned to retreat to his bedroom. He turned again and picked up the phone, deleting his father's message. "I'm gonna go to bed, good night," he nodded, quickly leaving.

"Chandler," she burst before he could disappear in his reassuring bedroom. He sighed, running a hand through his hair and knowing he wouldn't be able to avoid a discussion with her.

"Look... You've all been busy and it's not a big deal. So you forgot once? I forget lots of things too," he started, ready to put up a list, but he couldn't really think of anything in particular at the moment. "I probably forgot more than one of your birthdays, or... It just happens, okay?"

He wasn't angry at her for forgetting – maybe a little – but he really didn't want to have this conversation and he knew he would be harsh if she forced him into it. It was Monica, which meant that she _would_ insist to talk so he would probably regret the following conversation.

"You never forgot anything... Maybe your gifts aren't the best, but you always remember."

"Well, guess I have less on my mind..." He rubbed his face and took one of Monica's hands in his own, pressing it against his chest. "Look... Please don't tell anyone, okay? They'll just feel sorry and there'll be tension in the air. You want to do something for me on my birthday? Keep it to yourself and please, please let me just... go sleep. And forget that this ever happened."

She seemed to hesitate, then looked away. She wasn't really in the strongest position. She had been the best friend who had forgotten about his birthday, she couldn't really tell him what to do or not. She squeezed his hands then nodded slightly.

"Thank you," he sighed. "I'll see you tomorrow. And really, I don't mind." Except he did, but who cared? Probably not his five friends who had forgotten about it, he sarcastically commented to himself.

"Chandler?" she called after him again, and he turned again, smiling this time. She walked to him and put one hand on his arm, tip toeing to kiss him on the cheek. He leaned in the kiss without meaning to, closing his eyes as it lingered. "Happy birthday," she whispered and left him alone.

She probably wasn't aware that Chandler had just wanted something that simple for his birthday, and she never saw the smile on his face after she left, but he was grateful that she had done it. His birthday didn't seem so bad now.

* * *

 _Oh and if you liked this, I could try to write a following where the friends try to make it up for forgetting his birthday ;)_


	2. Chapter 2

_This story seemed to deserve another chapter, and you guys asked for it, so I wrote more! Brace yourself for awkwardness ;)_

 _Oh and thanks to Laura who reviewed a few of my stories :D And the Argentinian Guest (hey, taking Spanish as a second language in school finally paid off) and other Guests that I can't thank directly, you're all just so sweet!_

 _And sorry for updating like a month later, I must admit I struggled a bit to write it, and when I was done, I... forgot I had finished it...? Anyway, don't judge me, haha!_

* * *

It had been a long day at work, with reunions and a conference Chandler couldn't escape from by calling in sick. The couple of hours of sleep he had gotten the night before would have been enough for a normal day, but this wasn't a normal day and he had almost fallen asleep at the conference. He just wanted to go home, grab something to eat – he had jumped lunch – and sleep.

When he opened the door of apartment 20, way later than usual – a late reunion – he frowned when he saw four of his friends actively moving around the flat.

"Hey kids," he said, putting his briefcase on the floor.

They all gasped, and without any synchronization, threw their arms in the air and chanted "Happy birthday!" None of them were remotely in unison and Chandler winced.

He instantly glared at Monica who smiled weakly and shrugged.

"I checked my calendar and realized I had gotten all my days wrong!" Rachel said, coming to him to hug him. At his unconvinced look, she sighed. "Okay, Monica told us. We're sorry."

Joey patted his shoulder. "Why didn't you say anything?!" he asked, almost as a reproach.

Way to apologize, Chandler thought just as Monica pinched Joey's arm so he would stop talking. Ross entered before he could react at the pain, and froze, a cake in his hand.

"Hey dude," he smiled awkwardly, trying to see if he was really late. "Happy birthday!" he decided to say.

Chandler sighed, then decided to play along. That was what he had wanted, right? Just his friends, acknowledging his birthday. He wasn't so sure, now. He had made his peace with them forgetting. The late party was just a reminder that they would forget a detail like this about one of their best friends.

One of the balloon popped, surprising them all. Joey jumped and put his hand on the cake, ruining half of it. He was about to apologize but licked his hand instead, grinning, while Monica pinched him, again.

Chandler would have probably enjoyed himself, had he not been so extremely exhausted, and had they not been trying so, _so_ hard. He almost fell asleep on the couch, they woke him by trying to come up with an excuse for forgetting his birthday, then again for forgetting his gift, and he was tempted to ask them to replace any present by leaving him alone.

He didn't, even only to see Monica's happiness at what she had organized. It was far from perfect, but he knew that she couldn't leave it like this and had to make up for forgetting. They all probably wanted to make up for it. He just wished they had picked another day for this.

Joey had food poisoning quickly – having a friend that ate before the given hour had its advantage – as Rachel had cooked. Everyone knew what it meant – not very good food – but they hadn't expected food poisoning, and they ended up eating crisps on the sofa in a rather awkward silence. Chandler would normally be the one to break said silence, but he hadn't even wanted this to begin with, so he just stared at his beer, playing with the bottle.

"Okay let's move on to the cake," Ross said after a while. "Joey half-ruined it, but we can still eat something out of it!"

Monica quickly gave everyone a slice, the smaller to Joey who pouted, finding it unfair. As soon as Chandler bit in the cake, he regretted not asking what it was. Rachel saw his gagging reflex and frowned.

"Are you okay?"

Chandler swallowed, wincing. "What's that?" he asked in a small voice.

"Pear and apple," Ross informed him.

"Oh," he nodded, putting his plate down.

"You don't like pears, right...?" Monica offered and he smiled awkwardly.

"Not really... But, huh, it's very good, just..."

"Oh my God, I can't believe it, this is a total disaster!" Monica apologized again for having to work that day – which explained Rachel cooking – but Chandler shook his head.

"Look, it's okay, really. I appreciate you guys trying," he smiled, feeling suddenly like he didn't belong. He knew he did, normally, but he just wanted this day to end because he realized that they had forgotten his birthday, they had tried too hard and failed to make a party, and now _he_ was the one to reassure them. God, he needed sleep. "I don't mind, really."

"But we forgot your birthday," Rachel said.

He shook his head, but Monica talked before he could. "We feel so bad... I mean, ever since your father ca-" She stopped at his death glare.

"Your dad called?" Ross asked, putting the pieces together. "I didn't know you guys were talking again!"

"Yeah, no, we're not," Chandler muttered. He had been wrong. There was always worse than an already bad situation. "Please, drop the subject, okay?"

They didn't say anything, but at least they didn't bring the conversation back around his dad. They didn't bring the conversation back to anything, actually. Chandler eventually stood, his head spinning. Maybe he shouldn't have drunk that many beers with only crisps in his stomach.

"Okay," he said, clasping his hands together. "I need to lie down, so I'm gonna do that. In my bed. Thank you for the party. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

They tried to protest, but eventually gave up and wished him a good night.

"Chandler!" Joey called before he could open the door.

"Yup?"

"We love you," he said innocently, then rushed quickly to the bathroom.

Chandler stared, then smiled when his other friends expressed their love. That was it. Just what he had wanted to hear.

"Thanks," he smiled genuinely. They finally grinned at him, every ounce of awkwardness gone.

He sighed when he let himself fall on his bed, not even undressing. They rarely felt _that_ awkward when they were all together but Chandler was pretty sure this night was on the top 5. At least, they wouldn't feel as guilty as before, and they could all forget about it. And hopefully never mention it again.


	3. Chapter 3

_Okay, I hadn't planned on finishing this fic in such a rushed manner, but I realized I posted at the beginning of July, updated at the beginning of August, and thought "why the hell not finish it at the beginning of September?" because my brain is like this. So... Here's a final chapter, because it was fun to write, and poor Chandler deserved some good in his life!_

 _I have no idea of when this birthday (or the previous one) take place so I tried to stay neutral about time indication. Thanks for all your reviews on this story, though, I hadn't planned on writing more after the first chapter, initially ;)_

* * *

Just as Chandler was about to leave for work, Joey got his head out of the fridge, frowning.

"Where're you going?"

"Work. You know, that thing some of us have to go to. Sometimes..."

"W-work? Why don't you call in sick?" Joey was visibly panicking, and Chandler studied him.

"You okay, man?"

Joey nodded eagerly, and tried to casually lean against the table, apparently thinking. "It's just, er... What if we played some foosball?!"

Chandler stared at him, then shrugged and abandoned his briefcase on the ground. "Okay," he grinned, thoughts about work long gone.

They played for a while, even when Ross came in. He usually tried not to play if Monica wasn't around to be on his team, so he watched them, commenting all their movements until it got annoying and Chandler decided to call his work and pretend to be sick. It amazed him how much he could call in sick, considering how easy his job was to him and how much money he made. He might hate it, but it made good money, allowed him to do almost nothing when he actually was at work and was safe, at least.

"Oh I've got an audition!" Joey suddenly said, hitting himself a bit too harshly on his forehead. He winced, rubbing the spot, and ran out.

"You know, I don't think an agenda is enough for Joey. It should speak, tell him what to do and when to do it," Chandler said to Ross who laughed.

They sat, simply talking for a while, until the phone rang and Ross almost threw himself on it. "HEY!" he shouted, and Chandler sank slightly more into his seat. What was wrong with Ross? "Monica wants to talk to me," he said once he had hung up, "about a family thing... er... I'll see you around?"

"Sure," Chandler answered, but his friend was already out of the apartment.

He sighed, turning the TV on and resting his eyes, just for a minute.

* * *

"I didn't do anything!" he exclaimed as the door was slammed and he woke up suddenly. He turned, blinking a few times, only to see Phoebe grinning, her guitar in her hands.

"Someone did something," she smiled.

"What are you doing here, Pheebs?" He stood, noticed it was way past lunchtime, and opened his fridge in the hope of finding something in it. "Do you think the girls have something ready to eat? I'm starving."

"No! No! They have nothing!" Chandler just stared at her, shocked by her outburst. "I mean, I am _starving_! Should we order pizza?"

"Didn't we eat that last night?"

"Maybe."

Chandler nodded thoughtfully, but still picked up the phone, ordering a vegetarian.

"So, why are you here?" he asked again as they were finally eating their well-deserved lunch.

"I wanted your help to write a song!"

He looked at her, expecting her to joke, but she seemed serious. She finished her slice of pizza, washed her hands, and picked up her guitar.

"See, I was going for, er, someone who is hiding something from his friends... Can you help?"

Chandler froze, wondering if anyone was hiding something from them in the group, as Phoebe's song usually reflected on situations she was familiar with. He couldn't think of anything, so he just helped her, even if most of the times he just joked and didn't help her that much. He managed to suggest a few jokes that she liked enough to actually put them in her song.

Rachel came by later, Phoebe leaving them together. Chandler joked, before she left, that it almost looked like a relay race, how one stayed with him until another came. They didn't laugh, exchanging a confused – or scared? – look, so he chuckled awkwardly, alone.

He simply sat and talked with Rachel, liking spending time with her, too. He learned new funny things, and confessed some secrets too – although Joey and Monica already knew, so he wasn't sure it was much of a secret anymore – both slumped on the barcaloungers.

As they were throwing pistachios at each other and trying to catch them with their mouths, Chandler's stomach made a noise. He smiled sheepishly, putting his hand on it.

"I think I'll need something more solid than this," he pouted.

Rachel chuckled, but seemed to be hungry too. "What time is it anyway?"

"After eight," Chandler shrugged. "Where are the others? Joey should be back by now."

"Fuck!"

"What?"

"Nothing! I gotta go see Monica!" Rachel shouted, standing abruptly, ignoring the empty shells and missed pistachios that fell from her top, and ran to the door.

"Wait, I'm coming too," he said, but she seemed to ignore him.

He sighed once the door closed after her, and stood up, briefly cleaning the room before he made his way to Monica's. Why were his friends acting kind of weird?

Chandler frowned when he opened the door and found that it was dark, turning on the lights quickly.

"SURPRISE!" was yelled by a lot of people across the room and he let out a very girlish scream.

Oddly enough, his first thought was that he was in his socks in front of all these people. Then, he finally started to wonder why they were having a surprise party. "Wh-what are we celebrating?" He turned to Monica, because she usually had the answers for that, and she was always the hostess of a party.

"Your birthday!" some people answered enthusiastically.

Chandler frowned. "My birthday? It's not my birthday before..." Chandler was trying to calculate, then it came down to him. "Oh." It _was_ his birthday. "I can't believe you guys did that," he grinned, going to hug his five closest friends, as he knew they all had planned this.

He hadn't been thinking about his birthday much, usually not liking the day excessively. The fact that his friends had thought of it and done all that moved him.

"We didn't forget it this time!" Joey smiled, and Chandler nodded, holding back a laugh as the others glared at him for bringing that up.

It hadn't been their most glorious moment, indeed, but they all had erased the memory, or pretended to.

Chandler's thoughts about the disaster during his birthday they had all forgotten disappeared when he noticed a guest he wasn't expecting to see. "You got my mom for my birthday?" he asked, whispering to Rachel who was the last of his friends he hugged.

She nodded excitedly, clapping her hands like a child, and Chandler remembered that she was a big fan of his mother.

"If you keep going, I'll start inviting her to your birthdays, you seem to want to see her more than I even do," he nudged her playfully. When she seemed ready to agree – or even beg him to do so – he laughed out loud.

Nora didn't stay long – enough for Chandler to wish he was dead, once again – but Chandler still appreciated her dropping by. The other guests cleared out gradually, and soon it was just the six of them, sitting in the living-room. Well, five of them sitting and Monica already gathering some stuff up, which was fine as long as she didn't scold them for putting their feet up on the table. She looked like she would say something, but eventually simply sighed.

Chandler looked up at her and smiled, showing her the small space beside him on the armchair. She hesitated for a second, then gave up on cleaning up – for now! – and sat next to him, putting her legs on his lap. He grinned, looking at his friends who were currently arguing about whether this party was the best yet or not. For Chandler, it probably was. First, it was one of the few surprise parties that actually were a surprise, as he had completely forgotten about his birthday – they all knew that a surprise party was coming when a birthday was coming. And it had just felt so good, to lay back for an evening – well, a whole day as he hadn't gone to work – and enjoy his friends' presence, without even drinking himself to death – or, at least, without embarrassing himself.

All in all, Chandler was pretty happy with the group of friends he had managed to make.


End file.
